Thursday, July 11, 2013

Zacchaeus

People didn't like tax collectors, but Jesus went to his home anyway.

Background: Today we’re
learning about Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector. In Jesus’ day, men worked for
the Roman government in a specific area collecting money for taxes from the
people. The tax collectors were protected by the soldiers. There were different
kinds of taxes the people had to pay. The tax collectors were responsible for
collecting land tax, a census tax and a tax for temple operations. Most people
didn’t like the tax collectors. A lot of times, people even refused their change because they didn't even want to touch the money after the tax collector had touched it!

A lot of the tax collectors were getting rich by charging
over the tax amount and keeping the extra they collected. There wasn't anything the
people could do to stop their cheating. Matthew, a Disciple of Jesus was also a
tax collector. Now, think about this… A Disciple was a tax collector and here’s
Zacchaeus who is a tax collector. Jesus is associating with them and most
people do not like them because of their jobs. Jesus wants everyone to stop
sinning and go to heaven. Zacchaeus is found in Luke 19:1-10.

﻿

Lesson: Today, Jesus is in Jericho. There was a man
named Zacchaeus and he was a chief tax collector. He was rich. He was trying to
see Jesus, but there was a crowd and he was a short man.

Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up into a
Sycamore tree. He knew that Jesus would pass by the tree.

When Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus, Jesus said: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down from there because I am going
to your house today!”

Zacchaeus
hurried down the tree and was happy to see Jesus. When the crowd saw this, they
complained and said that Jesus was going to a sinners house.

Zacchaeus said, Lord, I will give half of
my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by cheating
them, I will give it back to them four times what I took.

Jesus told
Zacchaeus that “Today salvation
has come to this house…“for the Son of Man
has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Vs. 10 (today’s
Bible verse)

For this lesson, I made a one page mini book. There are many printables available for Zacchaeus going up and down the tree, so I made this to use. Kids love mini books, and you can print it in color or in black and white for the kids to color. Again, I found the mini book directions on Pinterest, and there are MANY blogs with it, so I do not know where I originally found it! You can print them here:

Here is the Zacchaeus song with movements. I sang this song when I was a kid, and now my granddaughters love it! I am assuming it is not a copyrighted song, since it is so old and there are probably different versions on the Internet. But, if you don't know it, I added the movements with the song. But, they can be cut off if you don't need them.